During a Monday interview with CBS News, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra weighed in on President Joe Biden announcing he was considering declaring a public health emergency to free up federal resources for abortions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade.
Becerra said the Biden administration was looking at “every option” available and acknowledged that declaring a public health emergency was one of them. He added the administration was “planning to move” on expanding abortion access.
“The president instructed us at HHS, me specifically, to look for everything we could try to do — and that’s what we’re doing,” Becerra advised. “And the public health emergency is one of those proposals, options, that’s there. We’re taking a look. We want to do everything we can.”
He continued, “But again, it is tough to undo a Supreme Court decision that unraveled, stripped away, 50 years of protections for Americans in this country for health care. So, we’re going to do everything we can. We’ll look at every option. We’ll try to make sure that we can move. We don’t want to get stuck in court, but we are planning to move.”
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